What would have been shocking would have been if Lance Armstrong
had told a persuasive story explaining how he won 7 Tours racing
clean while everyone he was racing against, and most of his
teammates, were doping.

I was willing and eager to hear that story.

But Armstrong chose not to tell it.

Rather, Armstrong chose to do what he has always done when
confronted with increasingly conclusive evidence of his doping:
Attack the accusers and portray himself as a victim.

I believe that if Armstrong had been wrongly accused, he would
have told his story. He still might have lost his case--the
evidence against him is so overwhelming that any defense would be
very hard to believe--but he would have had nothing to lose by
telling his story and getting it out there.

So I regard Armstrong's decision not to tell his story as further
evidence that he did what most reasonable people now think he
did.

And that brings us to what Armstrong should do now that the
evidence has been released.

The revelation that "everyone was doing it"
explains why everyone on Armstrong's team doped, but that
doesn't make it right. And as is clear in the lengths Armstrong's
team went to to hide their doping, they knew it wasn't
right. But, unlike Armstrong, Armstrong's teammates
eventually chose to tell their stories anyway and accept the
consequences.

I'm still hopeful that, someday, Armstrong, too, will decide to
tell his story and accept the consequences (which, in his case,
could include major financial damage and, possibly, perjury
charges related to statements he made while testifying under oath
in a lawsuit with a sponsor).

Given all Armstrong has overcome in his life, and everything he
has accomplished, I have no doubt that he could overcome the
consequences of telling his story. And he would he could end up
being an even more inspiring role model and human being if he
did.

Based on Armstrong's recent statement, he doesn't appear to be
anywhere close to doing that.

But if he's not going to tell his story, Armstrong could still do
one thing that would mark a small but meaningful step toward
redemption.

He could apologize to the many people he savaged and attacked
over the years for telling their stories and accepting the
consequences.

In the "doping era" of professional cycling, it is now clear, you
did not just have to agree to break the rules.

Many of his former teammates and friends, including Tyler
Hamilton and Floyd Landis.

The wife of one of his teammates, Betsy Andreu.

A former team "soigneur," Emma O'Reilly

Former champion cyclist Greg LeMond

Other professional cyclists

The head of the US Anti-Doping Agency, Travis Tygart

A journalist named David Walsh, who was one of the first to
write extensively about the doping story

And others

As the USADA evidence makes clear, all these people had very good
reason to believe that Armstrong doped, that Armstrong insisted
that his teammates dope, and that Armstrong hired and managed the
doctors and managers who established the systematic US Postal
Service doping program that helped all of them dope.

If, somehow, all these people were wrong about Armstrong--or
"misremembered" events and conversations--they can be forgiven
for doing so. As the USADA's report makes clear, the appearance
of impropriety was overwhelming.

No one deserves to be savaged for telling the truth, especially
when the story is, in some cases, forced out of them with the
threat of prosecution.

So, whether or not Armstrong actually doped, he owes these people
an apology.